The Digital Economy Meets the Co-operative Economy

Digital technologies are disrupting the very nature of work – its availability, security, and purpose.

How can the digital phenomenon be channelled in a co-operative sense to achieve positive economic and social outcomes? Co-operative business models can provide greater economic security and retain value in the community where it is created.

Platform co-operatives are the merging of digital platforms and co-operative business models.

Melina Morrison, CEO of the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals will present the evidence for the global renaissance of the co-operative business model and why co-ops could be the preferred model of business by 2030. Co-ops are described as the 'Ninja Economy', hiding in plain sight. Melina will discuss the importance of co-ops to the national economy and what policy makers and regulators can do to help develop co-ops and mutuals.

Trebor Scholz, Platform Co-operative researcher and Associate Professor of Culture and Media from The New School in New York, analyses the challenges posed by digital labour and introduces the concept of platform cooperativism as a way to put workers, owners, communities, and cities in charge of the platforms they use to live, work and play. Scholz will present case studies of platform co-ops from around the world, and how governments are responding.